Jazz, 2nd and 3rd grade

 My 2nd and 3rd graders have recently been learning about how to show motion in art.  This lesson focused on jazz music.  Students listened to music, and then created a piece of art to show the movement of the music.

2nd graders created their Jazz artwork out of cut paper.

3rd graders created a painting.  

Both grades did a great job on this assignment!

Musical Art, 1st grade

 I have done this lesson many times in the past.  This time, I did it with 1st grade.  This lesson focuses on creating an instrument and showing visual rhythm.  My students created these using cut paper.  I allowed my students ten minutes at the end of the lesson to add details with oil pastel.

Musical Art, 5th Grade

 I did this project a few weeks ago with my third graders, but I loved it so much that I did it again with my fifth graders. These are our Jazz Paintings.  Students drew one large instrument, and then added designs to create motion.  Everything was then painted in tempera paint.  If you are looking for a good cross curricular lesson, this lesson ties into Science.  Students generally learn about sound and sound waves in science. My students learn about this near the end of the year, but talk to the classroom teacher and find out when they will be covering this topic.  It is always nice when art integrates into the other subjects.

These turned out wonderful!

Music, 3rd Grade

 In science class, the students have been learning about sound, so I thought this would be a great time to create music art.  To introduce this project, we discussed how sound has movement.  We also discussed ways to create movement in art.  For this project, I asked students to draw one large instrument.  After this, students added movement to their drawing by drawing lines, patterns, and shapes. 

Once the drawing was completed, I had the students paint the background.  They could only choose one color.  After the background, I had my students choose a color for their instrument.  For this, I had my students think about warm and cool colors.  If their background was cool, then they had to choose a warm color for their instrument.  If their background was warm, they had to choose a cool color for their instrument.  Once their instrument was painted, students worked on painting the other details in their picture.  Lastly, students used black paint to outline.  

I just love these!  They are so fun and colorful. 

Music, 2nd Grade

I have done this lesson many times with many different grades. It is one of my favorites. For this lesson, we focus on Jazz music. I first have my students listen to jazz, and we discuss how music has rhythm and movement. We then discuss how artists can use lines and patterns to show movement and rhythm as well.Students begin by drawing and cutting out a guitar. Then, students cut out smaller shapes to add details and designs to their artwork. During the last ten minutes of class, I allow them to use oil pastels to add final details.

Music, 3rd Grade

I recently did this lesson with my third graders. We began this lesson by listening to Jazz music. I asked my students to try to visualize the music while it was playing. We then discussed ways to show rhythm and movement in art.

For this lesson, I taught my students to draw a guitar. After this, students were asked to draw designs or patterns to show rhythm. We then used warm and cool colors to paint our pictures.
These turned out really nice. I can almost hear the music now.

Jazz, 2nd Grade

I have done this lesson many times before with many different grade levels. This year, I decided to try it with my second graders. To begin this project, we listened to jazz music for a couple minutes. We then talked about how music has rhythm and movement, and discussed the idea that art can also show rhythm and movement. Each child was given a large piece of construction paper to draw their instrument on. I had my students draw with a black crayon in order to make sure they drew big enough. (Most kids will draw bigger with a crayon than a pencil). My students had to draw either a guitar or trumpet, which I showed them how to draw. After this, they cut the instrument out and glue it to the black paper. The rest of the project was entirely up to them. They used scrap paper to cut out simple shapes, to make it look like the instrument was playing music. I even let my students cut up music sheets to add to their collage. Finally, in the last five minutes of class, I let my students use oil pastels to add final details.
While my students were working, I continued to play jazz music. I think these turned out quite nice.

Music, 1st Grade

My first grade students have recently been learning about sound in science class. To tie into this, I had my students create music collages. To begin, we talked about how music has rhythm and movement. We brainstormed many ways to visually show rhythm in art (patterns, zig zags, spirals...).

I have done this project before with third grade, but it was fun to see what the first graders could do with it. Basically, students drew and cut out instruments on construction paper. Then students cut out simple shapes and symbols to show movement and rhythm. At the very end of class, I gave them oil pastels to add details.

I was incredibly impressed with these! They understood the idea of visual movement even better than I thought they would.

Jazz, 5th Grade

Last week, I did this project with my fifth graders. We listened to Jazz music and talked about how it has rhythm and movement. I showed students that art can also have visual rhythm and movement. The idea was to get the feeling of the Jazz in our art. We drew a large instrument on our page. Then, we added music notes and designs to our pictures to give it rhythm and movement. Everything was painted with tempera paints (I only gave the students primary colors). We quickly reviewed the color wheel and mixing colors. I encouraged students to mix colors right on the paper, and seeing brush strokes was completely fine.





I just LOVE these! I can almost hear the music now.

Crayola Doesn't Make A Color

I found this song a few weeks ago on youtube, and now I am in love with it. This is an adorable song. This music video was filmed with real 2nd graders. My students thinks it's a great song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EELEjeYzfjM. Just click on the link and enjoy.

It's not my fault if this song gets stuck in your head. :)

Jazz, 3rd Grade

This was my absolute favorite lesson of last year and of course plan on doing it with my third graders again this year. My students are still talking about this project. They just loved it!

Several of them have asked if we could do it again!!!

We began this lesson by listening to Jazz music (the New Orleans kind). I asked students to close their eyes and try to visualize the music. We discussed the concept of showing visual rhythm by using colors and shapes. I told students that the idea behind this lesson was to try to describe jazz music to someone who is deaf.

These were collaged with construction paper. I even let them cut up real music sheets (which I found online). They had to have one large instrument, but the rest was up to them. The last few minutes of class I gave them oil pastels.

Kokopelli, 5th Grade

The fifth graders were learning about Native Americans, and I needed to come up with a lesson with this theme. I know that normally this is a common theme for art projects, but I just could not find anything I liked.

After much googling, I had an idea. I kept seeing this image of a man playing an instrument on the Internet. I looked into it, and found that his name is Kokopelli and it is a Southwestern Native American legend dating back to over 3,000 years ago. According to the legend, Kokopelli plays his instrument to change the seasons. Kokopelli usually is slightly hunch backed and generally has wild hair. I just loved this image and decided to dedicate a project after him.

Students used oil pastel and liquid watercolors for the background. For the image of Kokopelli, students drew and cut it out of black paper. (I showed students basically how to draw him, but details like his hair were up to the students) This was then glued on top the painted paper.

I just love how these turned out. This lesson is definitely a keeper. :)